Fishing Diary: Winter part 3

Pushing my luck

It wasn't that late I told myself. One of my usual Chub swims had just been completely obliterated by a turbo-charged fish of 4lb 12oz. I needed a plan b to try and get an elusive five pounder, maybe an ultra rare six.

Regulars will remember my dealings with a local farmer over the years. It was a love/hate relationship. I loved him, he hated me. A curmudgeonly, rude, vituperative old sod (not me, him). Anyway should he catch me in what he called 'his garden' then he would relieve me of a fiver for a day ticket. Day being the operative word. By the time I pulled into the layby it was pitch black, I knew this because I'd switched my headlights off for stealth. I was pushing my luck.

A tip rod, some cheese, forceps, scales and landing net were taken from my car and I blundered my way through the undergrowth and finally reached the worlds noisiest gate. I could see the farmers house, the lights were on, nice kitchen I thought as I crawled through the gate and into position. A hump on top of the bank was just bulbous enough to conceal me. I had a tiny Korum starlight on my tip. He wouldn't see that I thought for I could barely see the bloody thing from nine feet away.

It's amazing how darkness heightens the senses, that and the thought you could be shot at any moment. I cast a lump of cheese blindly into the water and almost immediately the rod hooped over. A spirited three pounder was very nice but not worth having to remove lead shot from my buttocks for a month. On the second cast I had to wait a bit longer, maybe a minute. As soon as I hooked it I knew it was a better fish. The 6lb Drennan Double Strength held firm as I coaxed it back towards me. Unintentionally I did my very best to knock it off with the net as I jabbed around in the gloom. Luckily it went in eventually. Not massive but a very nice fish of 5lb 7oz. Mission accomplished and I left without a trace.........

The ridiculously acrobatic 4 12......

Greta Garbo and Monroe, Deitrich and DiMaggio, Marlon Brando, Jimmy Dean...........

We left off last time with some Roach from my local drain. I went again but only had a spare hour. This was the result.........

The biggest was probably a pound and a quarter and they were all in mint condition. My friend Antony saw some pictures I'd been posting and asked me if I would do another feature for the Angling Times? Of course, I jumped at the chance. I don't usually fish it very often and neither does anyone else. The local Cormorants had been taking advantage with the lack of humans present and as well as some nice exposure for myself it would do the venue good too.

When the day arrived I was slightly concerned to see frost on the ground. Fortunately it soon warmed up enough to melt it away. The drain usually flows at a steady pace but on arrival I was disappointed to find it stood absolutely still. Never mind I thought, we'll just see what happens. The first twenty or so bite less minutes were nerve racking. When you have a journalist travelling for two hours to meet you blanking is not something you want to endure. My steady feed of liquidised bread finally attracted something and I struck my first glorious bite and it felt like a good Roach. Then it fell off. As did the next one.

After that somewhat shaky start I finally put a few fish together. It actually turned out to be quite incredible. They just kept coming, one after another. Big fish too. I must have had around twenty over the pound mark. The biggest went 2lb 2oz but sadly had mixed parentage. All the really big ones seem to have either a bit of Rudd or Bream in them. I say really big I had proper ones to 1lb 12oz. That's still a big Roach in my book. As ever it takes a couple of weeks to get in the magazine and I tried not to think about too much. I'd been incredibly lucky to get on the cover before, could I be as fortunate again? With massive thanks to my friend Antony, yes, yes I could........

Just a quick report from another local drain. A place where a couple of years ago I saw the biggest shoal of silver fish in my lifetime. A couple of match anglers had been posting pictures of massive bags of Roach and I knew straight away where it must be. I remember thinking at the time I couldn't really see any fish that got my specimen hunting juices flowing..........and after a quick visit my thoughts were proved right. Even upping to size ten and a large bit of breadflake the small fish were ripping it to shreds. Nice fishing when you only get one day a week to be told where to fish in a match, not really my thing though. I left after a couple of frustrating hours......

Perch News

Every angler has that one moment. The take of a lure; the scream of an alarm; the disappearance of a float; the jagged jerks on a quiver tip. For me it is the sight of a big fish on the end of my line. Both 1lb 14oz Roach have had my heart in my mouth upon first seeing them. The 2lb fish was a total shock because I wasn't specifically targeting them. The first sight of an angry Perch always gets me the same. Anything around 3lb has my adrenaline running. Hard to explain but increasingly it's what I go fishing for.

The problem with big Perch is that they move, a lot. I've said this many times and it doesn't just apply to Perch- big fish are actually quite easy to catch just very difficult to find. Thanks to the watercraft of Martin we'd actually found some bait fish shoaled up on a Lincolnshire canal. Knowing the venue holds large Perch too it deserved some of our attention. Our friends Jamie Potts, Carl Arcus, Phil Kenny and Leo Heathcote all joined in on the fun at various times. Here's my highlights and if you are new to this blog, don't sneer at the weights, any half-decent fish from a new venue is worthy to me

2lb 9oz and 2lb 13oz

The worst picture of a 2 5 ever.......

The best picture of a 2 9 ever......

2lb 14oz......

Over now to a lake nearer to home. A bogey water for me. A couple of friends had caught three pounders from it but the best I had managed was 2 15. Time to sort that out I thought. Winter is the perfect because the Carp angling fraternity would be absent. How pleased I was then when I equalled my venue PB with another fish of 2lb 15oz........

The next session produced smaller fish but included a fine 1lb 5oz Roach.......

My last session turned up a fish of 2 14 and I began to wonder if I would ever break the three pound barrier. I needn't have worried. I finally did it on the next cast. 3lb 3oz.........

Bit of breaking news now. I've very recently had a 3lb 11oz fish. Lets not beat around the bush, I've caught a lot of 3lb Perch, a lot. This is my forth biggest ever. I'm not saying I'm good, I go Perch fishing a lot and it was fairly easy to catch. The point I'm trying to make is that fish of this size are rarer than is commonly perceived. I was absolutely made up to catch it........

Others

I had a brief Pike fishing trip with Benidorm Dave. For once I got the better of him. Five fish in a couple of hours the best a very thin 13lb 12oz.........

Attaining my 20lb target from a river earlier in the winter has sort of spoiled my Pike fishing. I'm not really interested in catching loads of twenties. It was a target I set myself and one I was very happy to achieve but it has sort of taken the shine off my Pike fishing mojo. I'm sure it will return at some point.

A day Roach fishing with Martin was mostly taken up with catching greedy Chub but we did manage a few roach to 1lb 7oz.....